Hard Drive Docks?

[Aggie]

My home PC blew up a while back on me (vaguely suspect power supply or motherboard; went white-screen then black, wouldn't turn off and once it did, it never turned on again. Probable dust overload, knowing my old apartment), and while I just bought a beater computer to get me through until I get around to researching & buying a replacement system, I want to recover my old hard drive. 

I've got a buddy who will do this for me if desired, but I've seen a few hard drive docks around. 

Anyone used these beasties?  I'm relatively Luddite compared to many of you, but the premise seems simple enough and they tend to be cheap-ish, i.e. significantly cheaper than an external hard drive unit.  Would this be a good solution to:

a) getting at my old hard drive contents easily
b) using the old HDD as a secondary external storage device for the new computer (mostly music storage, I think)

Comments, warnings, specific product reviews all very welcome. 

[Griffin NoName]

It's what I've just done and for the same reason.

At least, when I say done, I have the enclosure (which I bought- cheap easy) and the disc - I just need to connect the two...... I've been sidetracked by other IT activities of higher priority.

Actually you don't even need an enclosure, you can just buy cable/connectors, but if you are planning to use it as a spare disc ongoing rather than tossing away after the rescue then an enclosure is better.

[Aggie]

Ah, that explains enclosures.  Was wondering what they were....   it's probably closer to what I need (for a single hard drive) than a dock is.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

My home PC blew up a while back on me (vaguely suspect power supply or motherboard; went white-screen then black, wouldn't turn off and once it did, it never turned on again. Probable dust overload, knowing my old apartment), and while I just bought a beater computer to get me through until I get around to researching & buying a replacement system, I want to recover my old hard drive. 

I've got a buddy who will do this for me if desired, but I've seen a few hard drive docks around. 

Anyone used these beasties?  I'm relatively Luddite compared to many of you, but the premise seems simple enough and they tend to be cheap-ish, i.e. significantly cheaper than an external hard drive unit.  Would this be a good solution to:

a) getting at my old hard drive contents easily
b) using the old HDD as a secondary external storage device for the new computer (mostly music storage, I think)

Comments, warnings, specific product reviews all very welcome. 

Be wary of the bare cables:  there are extremely cheap ones out there that are worse than junk--- they can die and take your drive with them.  Not good.

I've pretty much concluded if you don't spend $50us or more for an enclosure/dock you're risking the contents of your drive.

I'm currently running two external housings, both identical made by ANTEC.  They are both self-powered, so little drain on my USB bus.  They have a cooling fan-- good if you're planning on keeping the drives on-line constantly.   I paid $70 us for each, and they are for SATA drives only (the connect method for the two drives I wanted to use).

If your old disc is PATA, you'll need a PATA-compatible housing.  Check the back, where the cables hook in:  is it a flat, 2" (5cm) wide ribbon cable?  Or is it about 1/4" (10mm) wide?  The wider one is PATA (or simply ATA-- stands for parallel ATA).  The narrow cable is SATA (serial ATA). 

If you purchased a beater, make sure it even HAS a USB port, and that the port is 2.0, not 1.1.   If it's used, check on-line for the user manual, to be sure.  Windoze is horrible about actually telling you what you have... and it LIES.....!!!

[Bluenose]

Concur wth above, I have a SATA dock which works with both 2.5 and 3.5 drives, as well as a special cable that works with ATA (2.5 & 3.5) as well as SATA.  All thee get used for work related purposes and have proven to be excellent.  If you want it only for a one time use, then I would go the dock route, otherwise an enclosure is good for more permanent use.  However, bear in mind that your old hard drive is just that - old.  Given the price of drives, if it were me, I would extract the data from the old drive then buy a new one for ongoing use.

BTW there is a product which will give you an audit of your PC including the number and tye of USB ports plus a whole lot beside - Belarc Advisor.  Just Google it and you should be able to find the free (legal) download.

[Griffin NoName]

Mine is IDE.

quote wiki : "PATA used to be called ATA or IDE, before SATA was introduced. SATA's most important difference from PATA is that it uses a thinner cable ... "

ie. mine is ancient LOL!

I agree with advice above - if you use it as a spare don't assume it is reliable !

I use the grandfather- father - son (very male) approach to backup and my olde IDE drive will likely be a fourth cousin.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

BTW there is a product which will give you an audit of your PC including the number and tye of USB ports plus a whole lot beside - Belarc Advisor.  Just Google it and you should be able to find the free (legal) download.

\

Thanks!  My old software tally program is no longer supported..... let's see....Everest Home edition.  Used to be free.  My copy is dated 2006, and it was old even then.

I'll google Belarc Advisor soonest.

Okay, here's the "I'm Feeling Lucky":  http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

[Aggie]

_{Thanks for advice so far sibs - I am paying attention and grateful for input, but standing back and letting the experts discuss!}

[Aggie]

Oh, while we are on the subject of cannibalizing my old computer, how difficult is it to steal some RAM and drop it in the beater unit?

[The Meromorph]

It's easy. But you can only do it if the types of RAM match. If they don't post what you have in the beater, and maybe it'll match mine, and I'll buy it. 

[Aggie]

*puts computer-fu on the list of things to learn before dying*

[Griffin NoName]

....and remember the  RAM is old too....... check it for errors after you've learnt computer-fu.

[Aggie]

What, computer components wear out?  Surely, no...  there's few moving parts; maybe they need to lubricate the electrons better ( ).  The Beater is a refurbished P4 with 500 Mb RAM - I'll take my chances, if it will fit.

I did buy an extended warranty (usually a ripoff, but for an old refurbished beater and from a reputable shop I thought the $20 was worth it), so maybe they'll clean up after my messes. 

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I notice that you mentioned your old computer but didn't say if it was a laptop or a desktop. Also if the power supply or the mobo died on a spike many things may have died with it.

Questions:
-was it laptop or desktop?
-the 'new' one is laptop or desktop?

Given that both are older it is likely both are PATA/IDE. If the new one is a desktop there is a chance that you have space inside the box for the old HD, provided it survived the mobo damage.

After that the thing is to know what your new mobo has to move the drive inside.
---
Or, buy a USB enclosure.

[Aggie]

Both are HP compaq desktops.  The 'new' one is a P4, the older one, can't totally recall, is about 3 yrs old?  I remember that dual-core PCs were out and popular but that I didn't buy one because they were still a good deal more expensive.

Will have to do some research.  *Haz teh interwebz @ home now!*

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Both are HP compaq desktops.  The 'new' one is a P4, the older one, can't totally recall, is about 3 yrs old?  I remember that dual-core PCs were out and popular but that I didn't buy one because they were still a good deal more expensive.

Will have to do some research.  *Haz teh interwebz @ home now!*

All of the HP/Compaq machines have a "service tag" somewhere on the case-- it's typically a white sticker that has a buncha numbers & letters.  Using that, on HP's website, you can easily identify the factory installed stuff, right down to the extra bolt-ins.   

One of the few advantages of that brand....

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Are those the narrow kind of desktops or the regular tower (is the CD/DVD unit horizontal or vertical if the box is horizontal?). There is a very big chance that you have the space to put your older HDD on the new box, if that is the case then we need to figure if you have an extra IDE on the motherboard available (if you you have only one both the CD and HD will be on it, you can hang 2 units per port).

If you are willing to go through with this I can guide you with the master/slave pins on the HDD, etc.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Are those the narrow kind of desktops or the regular tower (is the CD/DVD unit horizontal or vertical if the box is horizontal?). There is a very big chance that you have the space to put your older HDD on the new box, if that is the case then we need to figure if you have an extra IDE on the motherboard available (if you you have only one both the CD and HD will be on it, you can hang 2 units per port).

If you are willing to go through with this I can guide you with the master/slave pins on the HDD, etc.

2 per port is only for PATA (older, parallel-style).  And it is highly recommended switching to the [relatively] newer 80-conductor cables over the earlier 40 conductor type, to reduce signal cross-talk, when using 2 devices on the same bus [socket in the motherboard].

These cables can be had, cheap, at your local computer repair shop(s).  Sometimes your local computer recyclers will sell used, but in good condition, for even less.  [often they are the same place...]

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I doubt the old computer has SATA and the newer one isn't that new so it may or not have the ports (SATA is one port per device). Still, the first mobos with SATA frequently have 2 PATA/IDE (or more if it's a mobo with onboard RAID). Bob's recommendation on the 80 pins cable stands (you can tell them apart because the individual cables are narrower, less than 1mm while the older ones are ~1mm thick).

[Aggie]

Will have to get back to you lads on this one - I'll be out of town for work starting tomorrow, through the remainder of the week.

Zono, the recently-purchased-working unit is the narrow type of desktop, the originally-purchased-broken unit is a regular desktop (getting confused on 'old' & 'new' here ).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Even with the narrow ones there is a good likelihood of space for the extra HDD in.

Let me know when you have time (and are adventurous enough ).

[Aggie]

Let me know when you have time (and are adventurous enough ).

Will be adventurous enough when I have a new main system and this is the back-up!

Having time will happen after the former.  Should be caught up at work around December.